This is about the 8th attempt to write an update so am going to hop around a bit as I do a catch up. I received yesterday a thank you but no thank you from the local Tafe re a position I applied for back in early January. I emailed the Qld job re college counsellor position but have received no reply so am thinking that is a goneburger as well. However, moving in mysterious ways, I answered an ad in the local paper last week for work with the child protection dept in town for a residential care position. I attended an information session on Thursday as they are doing a group intake of staff and got the job application forms which need to be lodged by next Monday. Part of the process is another Police check that the dept does, even though I already have one, the dept does their own, allegedly more thorough one, lol, not quite hair follicles and blood samples for DNA testing but not far behind. The job is working with children who are yet to be placed in foster care because of behavioural difficulties and or being too traumatised to cope in a family situation with ages from babies to right through to teens. Not for the faint hearted listening to what we may expect, but not a great deal of difference to the last lot I looked after so will wait and see how that unfolds. The woman who took the session gave an example of language and behaviour as in - if you cannot cope with being called black/white, fat/old/ugly/and being sworn at, the job is not for you. Also discipline and expectations are a lot different to working with your usual variety of kids - she said that they have one boy who has taken a year to get to a place where he might be ready to look at being fostered before the end of the year. An example of the above is she said is that a child may say " I want a glass of f****ing water" to which the reply would be, that's fine but maybe next time you might remember a please at the end of the question!!! Had to laugh at that one. This is not a live in postion and shift work so will see how it all goes.
In between applying for jobs I have been doing the readings for my study and need to crack on and start writing my first essay. I am thinking I may just get all my stuff from storage and put it either here or at Phil's as both have extra storage space, as all my resources are in my belongings. It would seem that for this year, I will remain in Geraldton one way or another.
On the socialising front, we had Hayden's 10th birthday last week which entailed 20 people for dinner and a 5k leg of pork that did not die in vain :):):). It was a lovely dinner and Hayden was very pleased with all his gifts. We had gone out the day before (without Hayden) to the pet shop to get an aquarium and two fish from the local pet shop. What an education that was. Outside there were numerous birds and pets awaiting sale. I was amazed to see that over here you have to have a license to own some types of birds as I drifted around the cages looking at what was for sale. Zebra finches are ok but there was another sort of finch that required a license as do many of the parrot type species. I am told the licenses are not cheap and have to be renewed on a regular basis. Could you be bothered unless you were a breeder, I asked myself. There were a few cute puppies and kittens and then there were ferrets - $30 each and did they stink. As it was 40+ temperatures that day, most looked as though they were dead as they lay on their backs, sleeping. Did not feel any urge to possess one of them. Next went inside to where the fish were for sale and OMG, there were flippin snakes in there for sale as well. Once again you need a license and wait for it - it costs between $900 and $1000+ to buy a python of whichever variety you chose!!!!!!! There was also a frill-necked lizard - sleeping so the frill was not up - also $1000 in round figures and a license required. The pythons were all longer than a metre and about as thick as two largish fingers, so thinking they were no way near full size. It was interesting to just look and watch them move about their cages, watching tongues flicking out testing the air, and seeing how they coiled and uncoiled around wooden branches, pipes etc in their cages. It looked as though one had eaten a mouse recently as you could see the bulge in its body. It was all a very Harry Potter at the zoo moment, lol. You were not allowed to tap the glass as you would be ejected from the pet shop and or fined but it was interesting as I moved backwards and forwards in front of one snake, that it moved in a similar movement - can I add snake whisperer to my CV - laughing lots. Anyway, after much deliberation, aquarium and two fish were bought, smuggled into the house and the other kids set it up in preparation for the birthday the following day. The instructions did say, let water settle for 4 - 5 days before adding fish ...... it was more like 10 mins and lo and behold, before the birthday day was out, one of the fish was swimming on its side in the aquarium, and was close to the bottom of it by the day after that. Fish number one, disposed of down the loo. The second fish made a valient attempt to survive by being perky one extra day before also starting to swim on its side so withing two days that too went the way of the first one. Bronwyn has since steralised all bits of the aquarium, filled it with water and we await the arrival of two new occupants.
One of the hits of the birthday was a gift that Phil and I bought for Hayden which was a dinosaur egg ..... you put it in a bucket of water and over the next three days it hatched as it grew in the "egg" and beyond. Hayden had the bucket on the kitchen servery and everyone got involved in checking how much it grew each time they looked. I took a series of photos over that time so not quite time lapse photography but you get an idea. I am not sure what the 'dinosaur' is made of but once out of water, it has shrunk considerably and will grow once again when immersed in water. I had missed Chris's bday in Jan and found a CSI finger print kit for him which has proved hours of fun too. Last weekend there was CSI scene tape around the table outside that has our surviving vege plants on, and the kids were out with proper finger print dusting powder and an unltra violet light that showed the finger prints up as part of their investigation. There is finger print ink as well and we have yet to be all documented, lol.
Have had folk back in NZ tell me how hot it is as temps have soared to 28o. Two weeks ago, we had temps up to 46o which was so hot that my bare feet burned on the concrete as I tried to hang out the washing. Co-inciding with this was an electrical storm out Mullewa/Tardun way with another 20hr power cut with numerous bush fires started in several places from lightening strikes, with a fire at Eneabba down from Dongara that closed the Brand Highway as firemen fought to get it under control. We shot up to the Sydney memorial lookout to see the sunset that was shocking pink due to all the smoke in the atmosphere and quite spectacular over the harbour. In a rush of blood to the head earlier that week, we had got compost/soil from the dump to fill up a garden to plant vegetables in, as well as some plants. Unfortunately it took a couple of days to sort everything out and by then, during the hottest day, I noticed that the plants were verging on being dehydrated to dry offerings. I managed to water and rescue most of them though because of the continued high temperatures I have planted them in containers which we can keep in the shade and move about until the temps drop somewhat later in the month (when you would normally plant anyway, laughing ). It has not rained here since I have been back though it did drop one or two spits on Saturday on the way to the Mingenew races.
So, on Saturday Jude's daughter in law had a horse running in the Mingenew races - think a town the size of Patumahoe shop wise though they have a huge Elders store there. It was the 120th annual race meeting and the first time I remember going to the races ever though I have been to a point to point at Karaka and a steeplechase type event at Paeroa over 30yrs ago (very hazy memories of both now, lol). Honestly, the sights you see when you haven't got a gun, lol. The crowd went from haute couture in their dresses and suits, to teeshirt, stubbies and jandles (thongs to the aussi contingent - omg I am becoming bi-lingual, laughing lots) and everything inbetween. I love the whole stilletto shoe thing on grass - always good for a laugh seeing folk teeter totter as they navigate, their heels sinking as they try to walk. Big was also in - in fact I almost felt svelt - laughing lots. I went down for the afternoon with Phil and he and Jude had several bets with a bookie on site, then a few at the TAB also on site. I threw a couple of dollars into the mix for the last races and two horses I picked placed but Phil had done trifectors so as we only got two at a time placing we did not collect on those. The last race we backed three horses for win or place and Lord Oscar, bless his fleet little hooves, came in 1st and we collected the princely sum of $14 woohoo. Not a Sir Tristram or Zabeel bred horse in place, lol so picked my horses by their names, - Johnny Cash and Wild Wild West. The race track was the only green part to the field and surrounding sports area. The golf course consisted of dirt with what looked like circles where sump oil had been dumped which I am picking maybe where the holes were - did not investigate closer. Luckily, the afternoon was not too hot as there was a lot of cloud cover with a few spits of water as mentioned before, though hot enough for a few cold beers not to go amiss as we watched the proceedings. Had to be only a few as it transpired none of us had had anything to eat since brunch type breakfasts so by 5.30pm when the races were finishing, I was ready to eat a horse and chase the rider, as was Phil and Jude. We decided to follow Jude back to Dongara which was 30mins away and went to the Tavern for dinner. I went there once before with Jude the weekend of the camp draft and was not disappointed this time either. To stop chewing hands to the wrists I ordered a plate of Turkish bread and dips to dull the hunger pangs and then had a mango and avocado salad with a topping of salt and pepper calamari. Now, I thought they would put a few rings on top of a reasonable salad, but OMG there must have been upwards of 20 - 30 calamari rings on top of my salad which was just divine. Jude and Phil, both feeling a trifle more carniverous, chose steak and it looked perfect as well. It was worth the wait and nice to sit looking out to see the sun setting over the sea which was across the road from the Tavern. Dongara is only 45 mins max from Geraldton and not the 1hour 30mins trip back to Tardun that I was used to - a plus at the end of the day.
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These were the winners of the best dressed. Above a couple of the winning horses.
For Christmas the family here bought for themselves a Wii set up, with attendant games and bits to play the games with. It is like playing virtual sport with some of them and have had a go at 10 pin bowling and tennis before. As part of the package, they got the Wii Fitness DVD and fitness board to go with it so have had some fun having a go on that. I will not go into BMI and weight, suffice to say, there was not maniacal laughter coming from the machine, but not far behind. A lot of the fitness is about balance and posture so that was my first failure lol. It would appear that I am out of alignment which means I am likely to be prone to tripping and falls. Now , who saw that coming, hmmmmm. So moving on to actually doing some of exercises - you log yourself into what in effect is a computer program run through your tv, make up a picture of yourself and then weigh in and do basic testing to see where you are at. You can then track any improvement through the activities - or not - as the case may be. It would appear that in the four yoga poses I have tried (with both feet on the ground at all times - I am doing ok and that is my best scoring and at a reasonably high level - those years of doing yoga in the 80's have paid off lol. Aerobics was the next one I tried that involved stepping onto the board in rhythm to the little person on the tv screen in a basic on, off, right, left foot routine - easy enough you would think and not at any great speed. Well the left brain right brain was not in sync with the feet and the first time I was all over the place and again in fits of laughter. It has taken me three weeks to get the first part right and when I did the advanced routine of lifting a foot off the board and kicking it, OMG just a whole nother bit of bother with more misses than hits but that was a piece of cake compared to doing the slalem snow boarding, slamlem skiing and the downhill ski jump. Never the less it provided some hilarity all the way round topped off by me doing the hula hoop segment. Hmmmm enough said. I did ok at that surprisingly enough (or not as a child of the 50's) but OMG the sight again as one has to swivel hips at speed then lurch sideways on one foot to "catch" a hoop as it is thrown to you in virtual world. I have to say, I have improved in most of the things I attempted and even passed some of the rest in some of the games believe it or not. The one that I am unsurpassed in is the zarzen segment which I discovered on Sunday which involves sitting on the Wii board cross legged and staying absolutely still while watching a candle burn on the tv screen, while the candle moves about the screen as if it was on a boat. I guess it is the zen of it all one is trying to achieve. The boys were blown away when I did the whole 180 seconds of absolute stillness while staying in the zone for balance - woohoo. Little did they realise I have practised doing nothing for years, (laughing too much).
As part of employment in most jobs relating to children over here you have to have a Senior First Aid certificate so I am booked in to do mine on 23/24 March. I will officially be able to do CPR again, do bandaging and hopefully know how to cope with things peculiarly Australian - posionous snake bites and spider bites (don't know for sure if they are covered however). As I do not do blood and icky bits these two days will be a bit of a challenge but as the last time I had to put someone in a sling involved opening a book with the picture of someone in same and trying to co-ordinate the whole procedure in mirror image, most of you shall be able to rest easy once I pass this certificate that your health and welfare in my general vicinity will be taken care of, lol - I will have 111 or 000 for the Aussies on speed dial.
I have booked tickets to come back to NZ in April, leaving here Easter Monday arriving Ak Tuesday morning and leaving NZ Sat 24th arriving back in Gero in the afternoon - to and from here to Perth by bus. Once again there will be hours of waiting between flights to and fro but will have my computer and be armed with a good book.
By now most of you will need a cuppa tea and a lie down - laughing lots so will sign off and watch this space for more tales from the world of work.
1 comment:
Good to hear from you again. (Would you like fries with that?)
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